The invention relates to a network node and to a method for providing at least one Internet service of a service provider for users of an Internet marketplace.
In order to provide Internet services, as a rule, applications are used that are executed on an Internet server of a service provider. The applications are called by a customer of the service provider in the form of a request via a website that is provided by the service provider.
When Internet services of the service provider are made available on one or more Internet marketplaces that are operated by another marketplace operator, the problem often exists that an adaptation of the Internet services of the service provider to the Internet marketplace is very complex. This especially results from the fact that as a rule, differently configured data records have to be provided for different Internet marketplaces, for example, data records having different data formats for requesting the Internet services in order to provide the results of the executed Internet services.
U.S. patent application US 2002/107752 discloses a system and a method to integrate web-oriented orders into a back-end business system in which buyer and seller systems are connected via adapters to a data manager. On the basis of a form, a buyer transmits a purchase order in a buyer-specific format to the data manager. The form can be sent directly or via adapter modules to the data manager or else it can be provided via a browser-supported interface. The data manager translates the purchase order into a neutral format and stores it in a central database where it is linked to a buyer. Then the purchase order is transmitted to the back-end system of the seller, whereby it is translated into a seller-specific format.
U.S. patent application US 2004/062255 discloses a system and a method for communicating in a computer network, especially for carrying out reservations. Here, a client is connected via a multiplexing unit to a server or several servers that offer a service. Service requests of the client are converted within the multiplexing unit into the format that is needed by an application program of the server. Moreover, the service requests are transmitted by the multiplexing unit to the servers on the basis of the load distribution.
Moreover, U.S. patent application US 2003/036966 describes a system and a method integrating an e-commerce application into a back-end system of a goods provider, in which formats of messages that are exchanged between the e-commerce application and the back-end system are converted in an integration node. Thus, the purchase order of a customer that is received from the e-commerce application is incorporated into an XML message. Its format is converted in the integration node into the format used by the back-end system and it is transmitted to this system.